An overview of Tây Yên Tử spiritual and ecological tourist site in Bắc Giang Province. Photo dcs.bacgiang.gov.vn

BẮC GIANG — A large cultural and tourism programme celebrating the Spring and Tết (Lunar New Year) will take place next month in the northern mountainous province of Bắc Giang.

The programme includes major events celebrating Bắc Giang Culture-Tourism Week and Tây Yên Tử Spring Festival which will be held in Bắc Giang City from February 8-13 (or the 11th to the 16th of the first lunar month), organisers have said.

Celebrations will include the Linh Thiêng Tây Yên Tử (Sacred Tây Yên Tử) which will be organised across various local areas, including Sơn Động, Lục Ngạn, Lục Nam, Lạng Giang, and Bắc Giang City.

They aim to promote the rich traditional cultural values of the region, by introducing to domestic and foreign tourists the special land, people and unique heritages ​​of Bắc Giang. It will also be an opportunity to affirm the important role and significance in building and developing its own tourism brand.

The people and authorities of Bắc Giang City, districts and towns, are actively preparing for a series of activities at the special spiritual and ecological tourist sites of Tây Yên Tử and Suối Mơ, along with Vĩnh Nghiêm Pagoda.

Visitors will have the chance to enjoy and experience local cultural and tourism products such as the Forest Opening Festival, an exhibition featuring and promoting Trúc Lâm Yên Tử Buddhist Patriarchs, a performance of chèo (traditional opera), a display of beautiful photos of Bắc Giang and a festival of traditional folk music of then singing, an essential ritual practice in the spiritual life of the Tày, Nùng and Thái ethnic minority groups in northern Việt Nam.

A highlight of all the events this year is the procession of the tablets of Tam Tổ Trúc Lâm (the three founders of the Trúc Lâm Buddhist Zen sect) from Vĩnh Nghiêm Pagoda in Bắc Giang City to Hạ Tây Yên Tử Pagoda in Sơn Động District.

The management board of Vĩnh Nghiêm Pagoda, along with local Buddhists are busy refurbishing, repairing, cleaning and decorating the heritage site.

Workers at Tây Yên Tử spiritual and ecological tourist site prepare for the Culture - Tourism Week 2025. Photo baobacgiang.vn

Vĩnh Nghiêm Pagoda is preparing to display a collection of 3,050 printing woodblocks of Buddhist scriptures to introduce to Buddhists and visitors the UNESCO-recognised documentary heritage of the Asia-Pacific region, according to Venerable Thích Thanh Vịnh, deputy head of the pagoda.

The Bắc Giang Culture-Tourism Week will be an inspiring event to publicise and promote the province's unique and outstanding cultural values, as well as its tourism resources, said Đỗ Tuấn Khoa, deputy director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.

The goal is to develop the main tourism products, especially the Trúc Lâm Buddhist cultural space in Tây Yên Tử, thus attracting both local and foreign visitors.

The week, along with the Tây Yên Tử Spring Festival, are major annual activities which organisers hope will stimulate the tourism sector and grow visitor numbers, which increasingly account for a high proportion of the province's earnings.

They also help affirm that Bắc Giang as: "A safe, friendly and hospitable" destination. VNS